Method of communicating at faster than light speeds. Subspace radio allows virtually instantaneous communication over long ranges if the signal is sent via relay stations. Without relay stations, the speed of a signal drops to approximately 50,000 times that of light.6

Signature detectable by medical systems which allows the species of an individual to be determined regardless of exterior appearence.10 It is unclear whether the biosignature is some as yet unknown quantity or simply a combination of factors such as organ arrangement and function.

An element of Cardassian food replicators. In 2369 Chief O'Brien accidentally activated a sabotage device within the pattern generator of a replicator; the device introduced a virus into all the food and drink it created.24

A system developed by the Romulan Empire to render its vessels virtually undetectable to an enemy. Cloaking devices have varied greatly in effectiveness as cloaking and sensor technology have competed with one another. In general, it is impossible for a ship to fire a weapon whilst cloaked.25As of the TNG era, a tachyon network was considered to be the most effective method of detecting cloaked vessels.26

A gas comprised of charged particles, often at a high temperature. Plasma is used by Federation Starships to transfer energy around the ships via the plasma transfer conduits, and is fired as a weapon by Romulan ships.25

A very rare substance, Gallicite can be used to refit the warp coils of an intrepid class Starship; Voyager encountered a deposit of almost a kiloton of the material on Stardate 50537.2.31 The Nezu operated Gallicite mines on one of their planets.32 Gallicite deposits are also to be found on Vulcan in the region can release powerful energy discharges if metallic objects are brought near to them.33

A form of transporter which sends the matter stream through subspace, thus extending the range from the normal few tens of thousands of kilometres to at least several light years. The Dominion transporters may well be subspace devices.34

Emergency Medical Hologram, an artificial person who is intended to serve as a supplement or replacement for a ships medical officer in an emergency. EMH's can only exist within holographic facilities such as a suitably equipped sickbay or a holodeck.48

Inertial Damping Field, a field which permeates a spacecraft and prevents the occupants from feeling the effects of acceleration. IDF fields are almost perfect when counteracting forces from the ships own systems, but there is a degree of 'leakage' when attempting to compensate for external forces such as weapon impacts.51

Device which Daniels used to monitor changes to the timeline. The temporal observatory contained a great deal of information on various aspects of history, including ship designs, which it could project holographically.57

Element of the warp reactor of an NX class starship. Disconnecting the antimatter junction from the primary antimatter feed would prevent an antimatter cascade from jumping between the warp manifold and the reactor core itself.57

Element of the warp drive of an NX class starship. Damage to the manifold could cause an antimatter cascade to pass through an antimatter junction and into the reactor core, causing a catastrophic explosion.57

A Federation facility which serves as a centre for scientific research, trade, Starship manufacture or maintanence and military strength. Starbases can be located on planetary surfaces, in orbit, or in deep space.61

Extremely thin filament composed of almost infinitely dense matter. Although such strings are no wider than a proton, they have a powerful gravitational field. They also emit a set of subspace frequencies.75

Element of the warp drive system of an NX class starship. During start up of the reactor the output had to be confined to within 300 and 312 millicochranes to prevent fusion of the dilithium matrix, unless the spatial-compression index was greater than 5.62% or the ship was within two parsecs of a Class-C gravimetric field distortion.79

Factor which had to be taken into account when starting up the warp drive of an NX class starship. The output of the core had to be within 300 and 312 millicochranes unless the spatial compression index was greater than 5.62%.79

Element of Deep Space Nine's systems. Plasma manifolds could not be replicated since they contained a Beta matrix compositor, and the failure of one in 2373 prompted a mission to Empok Nor to slavage a replacement.85

Term used for the separation of a Federation Starship into two parts - the Saucer section and Engineering section. For some ships this is a relatively catastrophic act, requiring a Starbase to reconnect the two parts. For others, such as the Galaxy and Prometheus classes, separating and reconnecting is a relatively mundane procedure.86

Visual Instrument and Sensory Organ Replacement, a device which blind people can wear to give them artificial vision. The VISOR reads a wide range of electromagnetic and other input, converts it into data, and sends this directly into the brain. VISORs cause considerable pain for the entire time they are worn.86They are now in the process of being replaced by artificial eyes which serve the same function.87

Element of a Federation Starship. Graviton relays can make a small noise when a turbolift passes by them; Ensign Gilmore found the sound distressing as it reminded her of an interspatial fissure opened.88

Phenomena produced when two neutron stars collide. The wave expands through space at relativistic speed, emitting radiation which prevents the use of warp drive and presenting considerable danger to spacecraft unable to escpae it.93

A toroidal device which is responsible for generating the field which drives a vessel at faster than light speeds. Warp coils are powered by a plasma stream which passes through the centeral apeture. Each nacelle on a Starship can hold many warp coils.101

Solid substance. Magnesite is occasionally found in comets; it is hard enough to crack drill bits, making drilling into such comets difficult.39 Drilling through magnesite is difficult even using phaser drills, as it creates feedback pulses along the particle beam, a problem Geordi encountered on the planet Atrea in 2370.103 The Duras sisters Lursa and B'Etor conducted illegal mining for magnesite on Kalla III; Riker obtained some of the ore and detonated it in space with a phaser blast to reveal the location of their cloaked ship.97 Magnesite-nitron tablets were a standard part of a landing party medical kit in the 2260s.102 Magnesite dust formed a part of the living nebula cloud which Voyger encountered in 2371.104 Voyager explored magnesite deposits on a planet in the Avery system later in the same year.105 In the 2150s Magnesite was used in construction of warp cores on Earth vessels106, and the Kazon Nistrim used it in the construction of their frigates in the 2370s.107 Magnesite fuel was commonly used for small scale applications such as heating and cooking in the mid 24th century.108 Transporters cannot beam an object through magnesite.109

Name used for any device which collects information by directing emissions towards the subject and analysing the return. Scanners are distinct from sensors, which gather information by detecting the emissions the subject gives off itself.16

Term which is used to refer to any speed lower than that of light. "Full Impulse" is 25% of the speed of light, a restriction imposed to limit the effects of temporal dilation. If necessary ships are capable of exceeding full impulse significantly.16

The main power generator of a Federation Starship. The warp core is where the Starships matter and antimatter fuel is reacted together to produce the energetic plasma which powers the ship major systems. It is normally located in main engineering.16

The power a vessel must produce in order to achieve an integer warp factor. Once the peak transitional threshold has been crossed, the power required to maintain the same velocity falls significantly.114

Device designed to keep the cells of a Humanoid body entertained and so keep them for dying off during the ageing process. Spending a sizeable fraction of each day in the machine would, possibly, result in immortality. The device used highly charged polaric particles.130

Matter which is undetectable to most forms of sensor and scanner. Striking dark matter can cause normal materials to briefly phase out of space. Dark matter is commonly found in certain types of nebula,132 or in asteroid form.133

An element of Federation warp drives located within the warp core. Dilithium crystals control and regulate the matter/antimatter reaction which powers the vessel. Crystals should ideally be very pure, and very carefully aligned within the reaction chamber.136

A device which allows the instantaneous translation of virtually any language into virtually any other. This amazing gadget can even work on languages it has never encountered before, although this occasionally presents problems.147

A type of energy-shock which can be used to re-start the brain of a person hours after it has become inactive. In concert with Borg nanoprobes, an isopulse can be used to re-animate a person well after Federation medicine would have regarded them as being deceased. The Borg assimilated the isopulse technology from Species 149; Seven of Nine adapted the technique to revive Neelix after he was killed on an away mission in 2374.150

A technology which allows objects to travel at warp speeds without having a warp drive on board. A soliton wave generator produces a large energy wave which impacts the vehicle, accelerating it to warp speed. Another generator at the opposite end of the trip disperses the wave to bring the object back to rest. Unfortunately, the first test of the system went disastrously wrong when the wave grew massively in energy, to the point where it threatened to devastate the planet on which the second generator was mounted.153

Type of spatial anomaly, the first encountered by Humanity. Graviton ellipses are extremely old, and tend to contain large numbers of objects which have been scooped up into them over billions of years.133

A region of space containing a mass so dense that the escape velocity exceeds that of light. Many black holes are thought to contain a singularity, a point mass potentially of infinite density. The boundary beyond which the escape velocity of a black hole exceeds that of light is known as the Event Horizon.160

A universe co-existing alongside out own in another dimension. In theory there are an almost infinite number of parallel universes in which every possible consequence of every possible action is played out.161

A device capable of suspending life in an organic body for long periods by placing it into a suspended animation state involving very low temperatures. The Retellians used cryopods to transport living beings as cargo in the 2150s.170

Element of the weapons systems of an NX class starship. If the synchroniser was not reset when connecting certain systems to the power grid, it could cause the person working on it to have their eyebrows singed.175

A slot in which a Borg drone regenerates while not being employed in useful work. Alcoves include a hard connection to the Borg collective. Each is designed for a specific drone. Borg alcoves consume thirty megawatts of power even when not in use.176

Humanoid life form which incorporates technological elements in order to expand its abilities. There are many different varieties of Borg Drone, each equipped to perform a specific function, but most have an armoured exoskeleton covering the majority of their skin and one limb and one eye replaced with mechanical substitutes. Borg drones differ from most Cyborgs in that their minds are linked with and under the control of the Borg Collective.176

A method of transport used by the Xindi.38 The Vortex allows them to take 'shortcuts' through subspace, covering large distances in a very short time. It is limited to ranges of a few light years.177 It is also known as an energy portal.177

Unit of measurement of computer memory in the Federation. Quad is often used with multipliers such as kiloquad, megaquad, gigaquad and teraquad. There is no known conversion between quads and present day units, although some fans speculate that quad may be shorthand for "one quadrillion bytes".179

An element of the transporter which stores the matter stream whilst the other systems function. The stream will normally start to degrade in under a minute, but can be jury rigged to last for decades if need be.181

A component of Starship engine systems. Damage to the EPS manifold caused engine power loss and shutdown. In 2153, Captain Archer expected to take down the main power system of a Borg assimilated Tarkalean ship by destroying its EPS manifold with a pair of photon torpedo hits. He was unable to do so as the NX-01 was incapacitated. However, he did beam into the ship close to the EPS manifold and destroy it with grenades.56

When the NX-01 was captured by Triannon fanatics, the crew sabotaged the EPS manifold to cause the ship to lose power. On the NX-01 the system was located in on Deck D, section J-15.182

In 2154 Captain Archer disabled the alternate timeline version of the NX-01 by beaming its EPS manifold off the ship during combat.183

A measure of subspace field stress. A field of greater than 1 Cochrane is a warp field, allowing velocities greater than light to be attained. For a vessel in such flight, the Cochrane value of its warp field is equal to the velocity in multiples of the velocity of light. The unit was named after Zefram Cochrane, the inventor of Warp Drive.184

An area on board USS Voyager in which advanced long range sensors determine the location of many millions of stars simultaneously, allowing a great increase in mapping accuracy over conventional systems.186

An element of the drive system of a Federation or other Starship. The Bussard collector allows the vessel to scoop gas - usually hydrogen - out of the interstellar medium, thus replenishing the onboard fuel supply.190

An element of the transporter system. The Heisenberg Principle states that it is impossible to know both the location and momentum of a subatomic particle with perfect accuracy. Since this is a basic requirement for the function of the transporter, a Heisenberg compensator is necessary to allow the system to operate in spite of the principle.197

Waste product created by mining processes used by the Paraagans in 2152. Tetrazine could be ingnited by a plasma exhaust and ships which approached a Paraagan mine had to be careful lest a catastrophic explosion result.198

Element of the warp drive of an NX class starship. The auto stabilisers kept the warp field balanced; their function could be disrupted if the ship was operating in close proximity to other warp drive vessels.198

Element of the phase cannon of an NX class starship. Under certain conditions the plasma modulators could overload, producing a beam ten times more powerful than normal. When this happened plasma recoil would cause significant damage to the ship unless it could be directed into the hull plating.200

Element of the warp drive of the NX class starship. In theory, re-routing the system taps would compress the antimatter stream before it reaches the injectors, stabilising the warp field and allowing higher speeds to be achieved.203

Problem which prevented antimatter compression being used to reduce field fluctuations in the warp field of an NX class starship. Injector flare was caused when nucleonic particles flooded the manifolds.202

Device which was in use aboard NX class starships. The inertial micro-damper could stop internal components from experiencing vibration or shaking effects; sadly these were rarely if ever employed on chairs.204

A device employed by the Federation to reorganize matter on the molecular level. Replicators need only a supply of raw material, a power source and a suitable pattern in order to materialize manufactured goods or food at will. As yet, replicators are not able to create living material.205

Small capsule which is ejected from a Starship when it seems certain that it will be destroyed. Escape pods can generally carry several people.87Kirk was ejected from the USS Enterprise in 2258 and landed on the the ice planet Delta Vega210

Substance which can act as a fusion inhibitor. In theory a quantity of trilithium is capable of stopping all nuclear fusion in a star, producing a shockwave which will then destroy the entire associated solar system - this formed the basis of Dr. Soran's star-destroying weapon211 and the Dominion device intended for use against the Bajoran sun in 2373.44 Trilithium is apparently somewhat different from trilithium resin211, which is a highly unstable and explosive substance produced as a waste product in the warp core of a Galaxy class starship.212 Trilithium can also form the basis of a more conventional explosive - the Akritirian terrorist group called Open Sky used such a bomb to destroy the Laktivia recreational facility in 2373. The Trilithium was produced from paralithium obtained from an Akritirian vessel.213

An area on board a ship or station which allows access to or from space. Airlocks generally have a pressurized door leading into the vehicle, and another leading to the exterior. Shuttle bays can be considered to be giant airlocks.215

Device developed by Dr. Carol Marcus in the 23rd century. The Genesis device was capable of capable of transforming matter from one form into another according to a pre-programmed pattern on a planetary scale; this allowed it to terraform a planetary surface in a matter of hours, or even to create planets out of nebula material. Unfortunately, the first major test of the device proved to be unstable.216

A highly unstable form of matter, the use of protomatter had been declared unethical by the scientific community as of 2285. Despite this, David Marcus included protomatter in the matrix of the Genesis Device as it was the only way to solve certain problems. It was this which made the Genesis Planet unstable and led to it's destruction.216 By the 24th century the use of protomatter was somewhat more accepted - Professor Gideon Seyetik used some in his successful attempt to re-ignite the dead star Epsilon 119 in 2370.196 In the same year the Maquis used a protomatter implosion device to overload the fusion drive of the Cardassian warship Bok'Nor, destroying the ship.217 In 2373, a Founder infiltrator used a device composed of protomatter, trilithium and tekasite in an effort to destroy the Bajoran sun, intending the shockwave to destroy a large fleet of Federation, Klingon and Romulan ships at Deep Space Nine.44 In 2374 the Starship Voyager encountered a nebula that contained high concentrations of protomatter. Neelix was killed during an attempt to beam a quantity of the material into a container which he was holding. Fortunately Borg technology was able to revive him.150

A limit which applies to warp drive systems. According to Eugene's limit Warp 10 could not be achieved because this involved travelling at infinite velocity. The Federation long suspected that the barrier could be circumvented to allow warp factors above 10 to be reached, and attempted to do this with the Excelsior class Starship. The attempt failed, and the Federation has never achieved a practical transwarp drive. The shuttle Cochrane did achieve warp 10 in 2372, allowing it to occupy every point in the universe simultaneously, but practical difficulties kept the system from being developed. Several examples of alien transwarp drives have been observed.65

Trilithium resin is produced as a waste product by the warp core of some Federation starships, including the Galaxy class. It is highly unstable, and prone to catastrophic explosions if not carefully handled.212( Defiant class Starships also produce the resin. Four hundred kilos of this substance scattered into the atmosphere of an M class planet is sufficient to make it uninhabitable to all human life for 50 years.#5111}

A structural component of a Starship which houses the warp coils. Nacelles are usually located at the end of long struts which hold them away from the main body of the ship, although this is not really necessary. A Bussard collector is often located at the front of the nacelle.230

A Borg term describing the incorporation of other life forms into their collective. This is achieved by a combination of injecting the subject with nanoprobes and the surgical implantation of machine elements. A basic assimilation is effective within seconds.18

The sum totality of the minds of all Borg Drones, linked together via an advanced subspace communications system. The Collective has an implacable determination to improve itself by adding useful biological and technological elements from other species via assimilation of their members. Borg Queens appear to act as a form of operating system for the Borg, co-ordinating their actions.18

Large component of a Federation starship which uses force fields and tractor beams to push objects out of the way of the ship as it travels through space. The deflector usually includes a large dish or array on the surface of the ship.18

Any one of a number of devices placed into the Humanoid body by the Borg. Implants serve various functions, including synthesizing food for the biological components of the body, enhancing its strength and sensory capabilities, creating nanoprobes, etc.232

Any device which allows communication across large distances. As of the 24th century, personal communicators were contained within the Starfleet emblem worn on the uniform. This device was able to operate over ranges of at least several dozen light seconds.233

A large room which is equipped with holographic projectors, replication technology, and forcefield generators. The holodeck can recreate millions of different environments with almost perfect fidelity, even including recreations of animals or people. Some forms of holomatter cannot leave the holodeck without loosing cohesion and dissolving into nothing.233

Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation; a device which produces a monochromatic beam of very intense coherent light. Lasers have a variety of applications,233but are no longer used as weapons by the major Star Trek powers since they have been replaced by phasers or disruptors.234

A type of radiation which can mutate plasma plague or accelerate its growth. In 2295 Doctor Susan Nuress used Eichner radiation to create new strains of plasma plague during an outbreak in the Oby System. Eichner radiation can be produced by produced by a subspace phase inverter and certain cyanoacrylates.235

Imaginary substence created by Kirk as a bluff against a vessel of the First Federation. Corbomite was claimed to be able to redirect any attack back upon the attacker, rendering Federation Starships invulnerable. The ploy worked.237

A method of dating materials. Quantum dating did not date the age of the material, but rather the specific time when it was created. It therefore generated negative dates for any object which had travelled back in time to a point before it was originally made. The procedure was quick and simple to do with even a hand held scanner as used by Earth Starfleet in 2153.241

Device which generates energy by forcing light elements to combine with one another. Starship Impulse Drives employ fusion reactors to create high temperature plasmas which are then sent through the driver coils, producing a propulsive and mass reducing effect.242

Facility on board a space vessel which is dedicated to storing, launching and landing shuttlecraft.243Most Federation shuttle bays are equipped with a forcefield which allows shuttles to pass through whilst holding the atmosphere inside, thus allowing the bay to operate without having to depressurise.244Standard practice is to bring shuttles aboard via a tractor beam rather than under their own power, although this can be done in an emergency.219

A small spacecraft carried by most Starships. Smaller shuttles generally carry people down to planetary surfaces in situations where transporters are not available, but larger or more modern ones can undertake interplanetary or short interstellar journeys.243

Form of highly hazardous radiation capable of causing severe disfigurement.250 Delta radiation could be used to stabilise liquid Trellium-D, though it was not wholly successful at this task.38 In the Mirror universe the warp core of the NX class starship emitted Delta radiation, and disfigurement was one of the hazards of being a Chief Engineer.251

A field generated by the warp coils of Federation starships and related to subspace. Subspace fields allow objects to circumvent the Einsteinian limitations which normally apply within our universe. They are measured in Cochranes; a subapce field with a value of 1 Cochrane or more is known as a warp field.254

An element of the transporter system, the biofilter is capable of analysing the incoming pattern and removing any hazardous biological elements such as bacteria or viruses.255 Biofilters are also used in Cardassian replicators.24

A form of matter in which the charge of the subatomic particles is reversed. Matter and antimatter mutually annihilate one another on contact, releasing large amounts of energy, and this process is used to power Federation Starships.256

A method of time travel employed by the Federation which involves a close approach to a large mass such as a star whilst at high warp velocity. The course must be precisely calculated in order to ensure success.256

Any movement through time at a rate other than normal. Time travel allows one to journey into the past or future, effecting changes in history. Various methods have been employed, including the slingshot and the Guardain of Forever.256

A molecule which the Borg be the ultimate power source. The catastrophic decay of even a single omega molecule can destroy subspace over a wide area. Fearing the danger that such a capability represents, the Federation has ordered all of its ship captains to destroy all Omega molecules on discovery.259

A phonomenon which can occasionally be caused by unstable gravitational and magnetic fields during the formation of a star. A pocket of null space will absorb any electromagnetic energy which falls upon it, rendering its contents invisible to outside detection. The idea was long thought to be purely theoretical, but in 2368 a J'naii shuttlecraft was lost in a pocket of null space. The craft's crew was recovered by the Enteprise-D.260 Null space also forms the basis for the catapult system built by Tash in the Delta Quadrant in his efforts to return home.261

An anomaly which connects two points in spacetime, creating a short cut between them. Wormholes can allow a vessel to travel quickly across vast distances, or even back in time. Most wormholes are unstable, with endpoints which move regularly,264with the artificially created Bajoran Wormhole as the single exception.84

Enery field that can surround a planet and cause a time shift in sub-space radio signals passing through it. Interaction with active sensor scans can cause a quantum reaction leading to a surge of metreon radiation which can be hazardous to ships.270

Element of the warp drive of an NX class starship. The linings of the relays were coated with a platinum-cobalt alloy. Stripping the coating from 200 relays was sufficient to yield half a litre of pure platinum.274

Structural Integrity Field, a forcefield which holds the structure of a Starship in an extremely rigid state, allowing it to resist great forces. Structural Integrity Fields can also resist weapons fire to a significant degree.19

Element of phaser weapons. In 2375 the USS Musashi traded a phaser emitter with Nog in return for an induction modulator. The emitter was then traded with the USS Sentinel for a graviton stabiliser.280

Device used aboard Federation starships. A ship could not function without a graviton stabiliser. In 2375 the Defiant's stabiliser failed, forcing Nog to engage in various trades to acquire a new one.280

Element of the warp drive system of an NX class starship. In an alternate timeline Captain Archer devised an improvement to the antimatter inducers which allowed Enterprise to travel farther on less fuel.284

In an alternate timeline, Denobulan specialists suggested this as a method of killing temporal parasites infecting Captain Archer. Creating the implosion involved overloading three of the plasma injectors so as to send a feedback pulse through the warp reactor. Unfortunately the procedure involved vapourising the captain as well.284

A drug used in the mid 22nd century, Mirazine could greatly reduce the time required for decompression when moving to a low pressure environmeny. A 40 milligram dose of Mirazine could cut a six hour decompression time by half.286

A method of creating a new body by duplicating the DNA of an existing cell. A clone is effectively the identical twin of the person it was cloned from. In 2365 the Enterprise-D encountered an entire society composed of clones of five people.288 In 2369 a group of Klingons created a clone of the revered leader Kahless the Unforgettable in an attempt to depose Gowron.289 During the same year a criminal called Ibudan created and murdered a clone of himself in an attempt to frame Constable Odo.2 At some point the Romulans created a clone of Captain Picard, planning to train him to replace the Captain as a Romulan agent at some future time. The plan was later abandoned.290

Substance used for insulation in Starship hulls in the 2150s.274 Trellium-D would protect a ship from the spatial anomalies to be found in the Delphic Expanse.14 It could be synthesised, but this was a very difficult process.38 Trellium-D is a potent neurotoxin to the Vulcan nervous system - exposure to significant quantities of it induces paranoia and violent, unthinking rage towards others.293

Typically, the part of a Federation Starship in which the fuel, power, propulsion and other major systems are located.279Some designs such as the Miranda and Akira have merged the engineering hull into the Saucer section.87

A procedure built into Federation Starships which allows them to destroy themselves in order to prevent capture.299Some autodestruct modes detonate explosive devices within the ship,218while others bring all of the antimatter fuel into contact with matter simultaneously. This mode is more than sufficient to completely vaporize the largest vessels.300Most vessels require both the Captain and one or more senior officers to agree in order to engage the autodestruct feature.218

Type of particle weapon used by the Federation. Phasers are capable of knocking a person unconscious, heating objects to very high temperatures, vaporizing them, and possibly even of moving objects into a different continuum.234

Name used for any device which collects information by detecting emissions given off by the subject. Sensors are distinct from scanners, which gather information by directing their own emissions towards the subject and analysing the return.234

A device used by the Federation which is able to dematerialize a person or object, transmit the resultant stream of matter across distances of several tens of thousands of kilometres, and reconstruct them at the other end. Many other lapha quadrant species have similar or equivalent technology, though this capability is rare in the Delta Quadrant.234

A system used for transportation within a Starship. A turbolift comprises of network of tunnels through which small cars travel. It is essentially a version of the present day elevator but capable of moving sideways as well as up or down.234